Education Blog

A way forward in Texas’ school accountability debate

There are two big parts of the school accountability debate in play in Austin this session. One has to do with the way the state tests students and rates schools. The other involves the degree to which the state emphasizes academic rigor for high school students.

Those are both parts of the same debate, but they deserve to be looked at separately. So, today, let’s take a look at the testing side.

As I have written here before, there is plenty of risk in the state re-calibrating its accountability system, a key part of which is measuring the academic proficiency of students in core subjects such as math, social studies, science and English. The state has drawn plaudits, most recently from Education Week’s Quality Counts report, for the way in which it assesses schools and students. What’s more, Texas is only now in its first official year of the STAAR exam and the new system of end-of-course exams for high school students. But here we are, with some ready to throw the system overboard, even before the kinks have been worked out in the new system.

GOP Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock of Killeen is sponsoring HB 5 that would narrow the 15 EOC exams the state now requires for a high school diploma to five such tests. Aycock’s bill especially has a long list of backers, reflecting the broad sentiment in the House that the testing system must change.

GOP Sen. Kel Seliger of Amarillo is sponsoring SB 225 that would similarly limit the number of EOC tests a student must pass to five. His bill would let 15 exams be given, but only five must be passed to graduate. (Presumably, the other 10 would be used for diagnostic purposes.)

Beyond those bills, there is a wide consensus that the state should let go of the requirement that a high school student’s score on an EOC exam count up to 15 percent of his or her final grade in that subject. Many tend to think districts should make that call.

As these bills and others like them make their way through the session, the best advice for legislators is be cautious. That doesn’t mean no change. Even some who previously advocated for high school students taking 15 end-of-course exams think that number can be adjusted.

A reasonable alternative would be to limit EOC tests to English II and English III, Algebra I and II, Geometry, Biology and U.S. History. Cutting them to seven would reduce the testing pressure superintendents are raising a fuss about, while keeping a battery of exams in key subjects. (The English II and English III tests would include reading and writing in one exam.) Those seven tests would give high school students a chance to show how well they grasp the fundamentals of English, math, science and history.

True, some critics would prefer doing away with even more tests. Some want to even ditch the state’s longstanding third-through-eighth grade testing regime.

They would replace it with testing in only some of those grades or using an exam other than the state’s achievement test. Those are non-starters because they would put kids at risk, while jeopardizing federal funding for schools. The Obama administration, as well as the preceding Bush administration, has rightly insisted on states testing their students in grades three to eight.

Keeping the third-through-eighth grade system, plus going with seven end-of-course exams for high school students, is a reasonable compromise. Students would get some testing relief, while schools still could assess the progress of their students. (Interestingly, the Texas Social Studies Supervisors Association has already pushed back against any ditching of EOC exams for their students. Here’s how Marci Smith Deal, the association’s president, put it in her group’s recent newsletter: “As an educator, we know that in order to produce a well-rounded, educated person then we must teach, and I believe, measure social studies…..Remember, what is measured is treasured.”)

A final part of the compromise should be letting go of the requirement that EOC scores count up to 15 percent of a high school student’s final grade in a subject. Districts should make that call, even though it’s likely that many will not.

Some flexibility in the accountability system makes sense. But we would make a big mistake to declare war on it. Here’s a reasonable way to achieve the first goal, without succumbing to that latter temptation.

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